Pinterest on track for IPO as ad revenue approaches $1bn waterline

Social media company Pinterest is approaching $1bn in ad revenue, according to sources close to the group, putting in IPO (initial public offering) in arm’s reach for 2019.

The image discovery platform could double its 2017 $500 million sales revenue this year, driven in large part by success with mobile ads according to CNBC, with big fashion and beauty brands turning to the platform to get in front of 200 million monthly active users, 80% of which claim to use its...

25 July 2018 | Native Advertising

Reddit roles out native autoplay video ads with focus on user engagement

Following its recent redesign, Reddit has rolled out a new native video ad format that will auto-play by default when a user scrolls through a feed.

The update is part of the massively popular site’s tentative efforts to monetise its 330m active monthly users, which can be widely resistant to any large-scale changes to user experience, particularly when there’s a commercial slant involved.

Users will, however, be able to turn off the autoplay function, while the ads...

13 June 2018 | Native Advertising

Native ad leader Outbrain acquires AdNgin for automated ad content optimisation

New York-based native ad firm Outbrain has acquired AdNgin, a UI (user interface) optimisation specialist built to enhance the reader experience.

The buyout - made for an undisclosed fee - marks the sixth for Outbrain since its founding in 2006, including the more recent purchases of content discovery platforms Zemanta and Revee as part of the company’s aggressive growth efforts and continued leadership in the native advertising sector. 

According to the...

6 June 2018 | Customer Experience

Four ways to maximise Amazon’s social marketing power

Whilst Google is known for dominating search marketing, Amazon has started giving the search giant a run for its ad revenue – something that astute marketers will have seen coming for some time now.

According to WPP, 55% of product searches in the US now emanate from Amazon, and advertising has been a key contributor to their strong growth - 60% year on year.

This should come as little surprise; after all,  the e-retail giant has not only completely transformed...

30 April 2018 | Commerce

Why native is the name of the game in mobile advertising

Native ads on mobile are becoming so popular even Google has given in and launched new responsive AdSense formats for everything which lend themselves perfectly for adoption within mobile.

In fact, native advertising on mobile devices are thriving – growing 36% in the UK last year and expected to account for almost two thirds (63%) of global mobile ad spend by 2020.

The advantage of native ad technology is it can adapt to the visual design of the web page or app on which...

14 September 2017 | Mobile Marketing

Reduce your mobile marketing costs – by building an app

(c)iStock.com/allvisionn

It should be obvious to most brands by now that investing in mobile advertising is no longer an option. It’s a necessity.

Worldwide, mobile now accounts for more than half of all digital advertising, surpassing desktop Web in Q1 of this year, according to a recent report from UK’s PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

And, as digital ad spend continues to grow compared...

17 August 2017 | Advertising

5 game changing content marketing industry trends in 2017

As swiftly as digital spaces and online platforms are changing, the way we display content online is changing as well.

There was an explosion of innovative shifts in content marketing in the last year, and the following five trends are promising to significantly influence advertising in 2017.

Email automation

Although the concept of automated emails is definitely nothing new, streamlining content automation through email to the extent that today’s marketers do is a...

5 April 2017 | Advertising

Do people trust brands more than their friends online?

Traditional publishers are the most trusted source of online content, according to Outbrain.

The premium content company asked people who they trust most online and how this affects their purchasing decisions. They found that people often trust content posted by brands more then that posted by their friends.

The survey of over 1,000 UK consumers found that 34% of time online is spent consuming content that the individual did not set out to find.

What does this mean?...

29 March 2017 | Native Advertising

Mobile-only native advertising spend triples in size

(c)iStock.com/MarioGuti

The number of native advertising campaigns based on mobile devices has tripled in size, according to a study by native advertising platform Adyoulik

It showed that in 2014 mobile-only spend accounted for 10% of spend but the share tripled to 30% in 2015. Mobile-only has stolen share from desktop-only which fell from 40% in 2014 to 15% in 2015. Half of the spend in both 2014 and 2015 covered all devices.

The conclusions come from the analysis of...

19 May 2016 | Advertising

IT network Spiceworks beefs up martech capabilities

(c)iStock.com/kai zhang

Professional IT network Spiceworks has sharpened up its marketing tech capabilities today, with the addition of a Facebook-style newsfeed, content marketing capabilities and a native advertising solutions.

First launched in 2006, Spiceworks it a large online network that connects IT professionals and technology brands.

It cites the fact that tech buyers are “increasingly reliant on branded and third party content” to make informed...

10 May 2016 | Native Advertising